Ah planning a wedding. Venture with planner Vicky Johnson and her "Nearly-Wed" band of brides, through the ever glamorous, vitally important, detail oriented process of orchestrating the most important day in a woman's life (or at least it seems that way at the time) all while attempting to maintain some decorum and have a great time. These are the DC Nearlyweds!!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

100 DAYS!!!!

Yes, that is right! We have only 100 days left before our wedding and I am suprisingly pretty calm. Being ahead of the game and being engaged for so long has allowed me to do all of my planning ahead of time. The great thing is that the mental space most brides reserve for freaking out at the 3 month mark, I have reserved for stressing out about my job and working with my moot court team.

Although, I basically have everything done, there are a few projects I do need to work on in the next few weeks to make sure I STAY ahead of the game. I always refer back to my favorite checklist from Real Simple to make sure I am up to date on what should be done during this time. Here is what they suggest:

Three Months BeforeFinalize the menu and flowers. You’ll want to wait until now to see what will be available, since food and flowers are affected by season.

-Send florist an email just the other day...see, I am TOTALLY on top of things ;-D

-The menu has been finalized for a while now, but I should follow up with the caterer regarding booze...

Order favors, if desired. Some safe bets: monogrammed cookies or a treat that represents your city or region. If you’re planning to have welcome baskets for out-of-town guests, plan those now too.

-out of town baskets...OH CRAP! *adding to Google calender "work on out of town baskets*

Make a list of the people giving toasts. Which loved ones would you like to have speak at the reception? Ask them now.

-Done...but I should remind them

Finalize the readings. Determine what you would like to have read at the ceremony—and whom you wish to do the readings.

-Done! She just mentioned that she is working on that right now

Purchase your undergarments. And schedule your second fitting.

-Done! First fitting with Angie is scheduled for Jan. 8th (Woo Hoo!)

-I got THE BEST undergarment in the world to hold in my three stomachs, lol, check it out!

Finalize the order of the ceremony and the reception.

-Semi-done...the programs are done and there is a tentative draft for the reception timeline, but that depends on the band and their breaks, which I have not confirmed with them yet...so this remains open...

Print menu cards, if you like, as well as programs. No need to go to a printer, if that’s not in your budget: You can easily create these on your computer.

Purchase the rings. This will give you time for resizing and engraving.

-Well...we have my ring...Mr. Glen Echo cannot decide on what type of ring he wants. Hopefully, tomorrow evening when we go ring shopping for him, we will have that all figured out and I can get this also checked off our list.

Send your event schedule to the vendors. Giving them a first draft now allows ample time for tweaks and feedback.

-Ok...this is a big one! In a few days, my plan is to draft a final vendor list that will give me all my vendors in one place. At that point, I will just go down the list and check off which each one as I contact them and confirm times. That seems to me to be the easiest way to do it. Does anyone have any other suggestions on this?

In addition to all of the items listed above that I need to work on, I am also working my escort cards and a few other DIY projects. I found this lovely idea that I plan to do during "FUN FUN DIY DAY" with my bridal attendants in January. I also am using this idea for my escort cards. They are mini-envelopes that you make beforehand and then just add an insert with the table number once you have the seat placements all figured out. TOTAL GENIUS! This means that I can do the escort cards BEFORE I have my RSVP info :-O

Are you ladies ahead or behind the game? Any tips for getting getting through the next 3 months?